Latest market data

Stock search

Millennials aren't always the easiest people to manage. Since the
economy tanked, or maybe even earlier, they have gained a
reputation for being lazy and entitled. But millennials aren't so
different from other generations. Like Gen Xers, Boomers and
others before them, millennials value flexibility in the
workplace right after cash and benefits as an important
incentive. "The future of work is not a one-size-fits-all model,"
says Dan Schawbel, author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules
for Career Success (St. Martin's Press, 2013). One way to
make all your employees, not only the younger set, happier might
be to explore work models that focus on results rather than hours
spent in the office. More: 6 Tips for Managing
Millennials (Whether You Find Them to be Entitled or
Not)

Savor some solitude once in a while.
You may not love the outdoors, but you can certainly learn a
thing or two from a change of scenery. "The world can sometimes
be so noisy that we can't think," says Sarah Calhoun, founder of
Red Ants Pants, a White Sulphur Springs, Mont.-based company that
makes work clothes for women. "When that happens to you, find
solitude, even if that just means shutting off your phone for an
hour. You need alone time to get the juices flowing." For
Calhoun, that meant living in a ranching town of fewer than 1,000
people. Find an oasis that works for you, and take a load off.
More: 6 Leadership Lessons
From The Great Outdoors

Become an addictive brand.
One way to get people hooked on your brand is to influence their
behavior. Nike, one of the world's most successful companies in
any category of consumer products, changes people's behavior with
its Nike Fuel Band, says Chris Kocek, the founder and chief
executive of Gallant, an Austin, Texas-based strategy and design
studio. The device tracks your mileage while wearing it and
allows you to interact with friends on a social dashboard,
challenging them to keep up with you. "Of course, it goes without
saying that people who run more have a tendency to go through
more pairs of shoes" Kocek says. More: How to Turn
Customers Into Data Junkies Who Can't Get Enough of Your
Brand

Learn to accept 80 percent.
Whether because of perfectionism or mere attention deficit, the
inability to finish what you've started is a major problem, says
inventor and author Stephen Key. Entrepreneurs usually aren't
lacking in focus; more often, they want to keep tweaking their
product endlessly, for fear that it won't satisfy customers or
that it will receive bad press. But eventually you have to ship
the product, no matter what. "If you miss deadlines and are
always late, in the end, you'll have little to show for
yourself," Key says. "I always say, if it's 80 percent there,
it's good enough. Because: you must ship." More: 5 Signs You're
Standing In Your Own Way to Success

Build 'deep referral relationships.'
Everyone knows how valuable the right referral can be. But
referrals don't mean much if the person recommending you hardly
knows you from Adam. The key is to build deep relationships with
your business associates, so that when they refer you to someone
else, they can really talk you up, says Ivan Misner, founder and
chairman of BNI, an Upland, Calif.-based professional business
networking organization. He recommends building your "social
capital" with someone by finding ways to help them out before
asking for something. "You have to have money in the bank before
you can make a withdrawal," Misner says. More: How to Get More Out
of the Time You Already Spend Networking